X-Ftn-To: Marcus E Engdahl 

mengdahl@cc.hut.fi (Marcus E Engdahl) wrote:
>>I express different standpoints and I'm not in agreement with your
>>concepts of spirituality and enlightenment.
>
>Me neither. I think that the enlightened state is an attainable state
>of mind, nothing more and nothing less. It may be a worthy goal, and
>on the other hand it may be not (what's the use of spending one's life
>trying to mould one's consciousness towards enlightement, if it's only
>a very good state of mind?).

Still, it's better to be in a good state of mind than in a poor one,
and since people constantly attempt to improve their situation, in one
way or another, even the theory that enlightenment is merely a state
of inner harmony is reason enough to try to attain it.
However, I never saw anyone who managed that, starting from the
standpoint that it's only his mental states. Some experiences, that
are experienced as utterly positive in a wider worldview (which
includes God, angels and other similar beings) can cause serious
confusion and trouble in an atheistic worldview, because one would
interpret these events as hallucinations, thus aggravating his
condition even further with worries about his mental sanity.
Furthermore, only a total beginner can be an atheist. When one starts
the practice, God's existence soon becomes self-evident, and atheistic
belief must be rejected as groundless.

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Homepage: http://www.danijel.org